Categories
Chinese

My Aunt’s Handmade Noodles 胖姨儿手工拉面馆 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

We waited in line for about 20-30 minutes, after 8PM on a weeknight, for a couple of bowls of pretty good noodles. Luckily, our time in line was not wasted, with a supply of complimentary plum juice and an Anki MCQ deck of recent vintage. In retrospect, this line is also probably where I got a viral URTI just before my exam, leading to a practical learning point about the hypothalamic set point.

The Biang Biang Noodles, Four-in-One 四合一面 （宽面）($17.90) were pretty good, coming as a large portion with a perfect ratio of topping to noodle. The noodles were ultra broad and chewy, though could only be moderately coated by the sauce unlike some other highly-coated competitors. While this was a good bowl of noodles, and somewhat of a staple that can be eaten over and over again, I would hesitate to really elevate my praise of it to that of one of the greats.

The Lamb stir fried shredded noodle cakes 羊肉炒饼丝 ($20.90) was an absolute mountain of a plate. Loaded with shredded noodle, lamb, egg, and a bit of vegetables, it was all stir fried together to achieve a level of yellow-brown normally confined to UK cuisine. The flavour was subtle on first bite, but as I began to eat more and more mouthfuls it seemed to build upon itself, like amiodarone inhibiting its own metabolism, until a high tier of umami enjoyment was achieved. For those wondering, the lamb was not very ‘lamby’, and game-hesitants need not avoid.

The lamb stir fried noodles were only made better through the addition of the bonus toppings, chilli oil (which was delicious, and not very spicy) and evil green garlic (known to me for many years from the short videos of recipes involving water specifically from the Mississippi River, but not tasted until now), which added a nice tang and cut through the oiliness of the dish.

A bean curd side was also included, though it was not fantastic nor something I would’ve paid for.

Overall I had a pretty good meal, although again I have to wonder why a restaurant would offer a 5% discount for cash payments. Has this always been happening or have I only begun to notice it recently?

Categories
Chinese Groceries

Ruyee Golden Potstickers with Chives Egg and Dried Shrimp (黃金鍋貼 韭菜鸡蛋虾皮) – Grocery Review

Straight off the heels of having tried the Chive and Egg Dumplings from Ruyee, here are my brief thoughts on their Golden Potstickers with Chives Egg and Dried Shrimp (黃金鍋貼 韭菜鸡蛋虾皮). Dedicated readers do not have to fear, for these quickly jotted down thoughts will not interrupt the usual posting schedule.

These are clearly smaller than the previously reviewed egg and chive pockets. The photo on the packet has them being cooked still stuck together as a batch, though they did not come this stuck together in the packaging.

Though the supermarket I brought them from advertised them as chive, egg, and prawn, I could not appreciate any prawn whilst eating them, and a subsequent a close reading of the packaging revealed that the prawn was only dried prawn.

I’m open to any suggestions about how to de-carbonise the sides of my stainless steel cookware. Barkeeper’s friend doesn’t get rid of all of it, so often I find it’s less drama to just use carbon steel.

All faffing aside, these were only fine. The wrapper to filling ratio I felt was weaker than that of the ‘pockets’, and given the choice of the two I would choose those instead.

Ruyee Golden Potstickers with Chives Egg and Dried Shrimp (黃金鍋貼 韭菜鸡蛋虾皮)
9369999096892

Categories
Malaysian

Char Penang Foodie – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve been getting a lot of char kway teow content on my Instagram feed recently. This meal is the result not of any specific paid advertising for the restaurant in particular, but possibly influenced by the Sydney Malaysian food cabal.

The Penang Famous Char Koey Teow 著名炒果条 ($18.50) was pretty good. I guess there are a number of ways to romanise the same Chinese words, and this is what it’s listed as on the menu. The dish was savoury, and not too salty. It featured quite a few large prawns, though not much char siu or other meats. There was a reasonable degree of smokey wok hei flavour, though probably less than that of nearby competitor Hokkein Kia. There was a degree of crispiness, but again less pronounced than Hokkein Kia, which had quite prominent pieces of fried lard. As a trade-off it felt less oily overall, which I guess is a plus.

The Loh Bak 卤肉条 ($5.50) was pretty good, well priced for a quick snack. Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, served with a brown slurry that wasn’t pictured on the electronic menu. The lady explained to us (after I had tried drinking it) that it is a soup base that they use for one of their noodle dishes, designed for dipping.

I didn’t love the Bak Kut Teh (Dry) 肉骨茶(干) ($26.50), rice included. It was meaty, full of pork and fish balls, and having a mild bak kut teh aroma and taste, but in comparison with the CKT just didn’t wow or astound.

The 槟岛式茶冰 Penang-Style Iced Teh Tarik ($7.50) was pretty good, however tasted pretty close to the green can of Mesona grass jelly herbal tea drink. It was just around the right level of sweetness, which is not something that I can say for all iterations of this drink. It seemed quite overpriced to me though, probably not worth more than a nasi lemak or half a CKT.

The Bungkus Nasi Lemak 椰浆饭 ($6.50) we had for take-away, because we obviously ordered too much food to eat in one go. I liked it. It was fragrant, the rice was moist, even after a stint in the fridge and another stint in the microwave, and the flavours were umami and well balanced. Note that only half the serving is pictured, because my girlfriend ate her half without me.

Overall
The char kway teow was pretty good – a slightly different approach to that of Hokkein Kia across the road, but just as valid.

Char Penang Foodie
239 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194

Categories
Indonesian

KKO KKO – Pyrmont NSW Restaurant Review

I promise this is the last wedding related write-up even though it was the first meal in the series of wedding meals.

I went to KKO KKO on the eve of our wedding alone, because my then-girlfriend did not want to eat prior to the eat dinner prior to the big day. She will not like that I have written this online.

This meal was probably the one time in my life where eating in was worse value than takeaway or delivery. I’d originally reviewed the menu online via their Bopple site, and was keen for just half of a Balinese chicken. I arrived at the restaurant to find that not only was this not available on the eat-in menu, but that the Balinese chicken set that was available cost 25% more for the same thing for eat in compared to takeaway. While takeaway portions are generally smaller than eat-in portions, this was not likely to be a factor as the portion size was set by the piece of chicken and side condiments, and so I feel it would have been unlikely to be smaller.

I also did not expect to be charged an extra $2 for the Level 3 basting of the chicken, however I guess it must have been noted somewhere on the menu which I had simply missed.

Having aired most of my complaints about cost I must admit that the Wayan in the House ($27.95 with basting upcharge) was quite yummy. It had an excellent smoky flavour set at spice level 3 which was allegedly the least spicy spice level attainable (level 1 described as honey and level 2 described as savoury only without spice. ) Level 3 was perfect in my opinion and definitely enough for me.

The chicken was juicy and tasty, though I just wish there were more of it like I originally wanted to get.

The tofu was really good with a very crispy exterior, deep fried I think with some carrot and onion, and a savoury internal flavour which also featured some carrot stuffed inside. The internal texture of the tofu was similar to frozen silken tofu. The little dish sambal was creamy and yummy and would do well as a laksa base but I had nothing to really eat it with apart from the very inside of the tofu, as everything else in the meal was already quite well flavoured. The vinaigrette taste of the summer salad was good and it would have been well at home inside of a banh mi.

Stray observations
While I was sitting inside the restaurant a man near me was secretly eating Hot Star fried chicken, which was an absolute hero move. Though the restaurant is Balinese in nature, covers of various classic Chinese songs like I Can Fly by Joey Young and Tong Hua by Michael Wong played throughout my visit.

KKO KKO Balinese
U60 Building
Shop 1/60 Union St, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Categories
Café

Eat Ozzo – Pyrmont NSW Restaurant Review

This was our first breakfast as a married couple, within line of sight from the NSW Government facility in which we were married.

I don’t know that calling your sandwich Mortadella 2.0 (Better than Bourdain) Ozzo ($22) is a particularly good way to honour a dead man’s legacy. But that is what Eat Ozzo has done for their mortadella sandwich, folded into a wood-fired pizza dough.

The flavour was pretty good, with a relatively healthy serving of LP’s mortadella, which I maintain is the best mortadella around. I enjoyed most of the flavours, with the artichoke and straciatella doing heavily lifting, though I thought that it had an unusually large amount of cabbage hidden under the surface, overpowered most mouthfuls. The surface layer was a strongly positive exerience, but the second half of the meal, mostly of a slightly bitter charred cabbage was unenjoyable, leading me to try making my own at home with a pizza dough ball from Woolworths, straciatella from Paesanella, and mortadella from Harris Farm. In some ways it was not as good (particularly in terms of the bread – I have yet to succeed in making something edible in the Breville Pizzaiolo), but in other ways, especially with the lack of cabbage, it was better..

The Chopped Chook Salad Ozzo ($11) is a smaller sandwich on their breakfast menu, which inspired a similar instinct to make it again at home in my new wife. It featured a cold mixture of avocado and chicken which was marketed as a “NY deli style chopped chicken salad”, which, having never been to New York, I guess we just have to trust. The flavour was pretty good, superior to the Mortadella with the lack of bitter cabbage, and as was the price.

I’ve not had a lot Strawberry Matchas (strawberries matcha?) ($15.40), but this was on the terrible end of things – too sweet, watery feeling, and expensive.

Overall
A place where the food leaves you thinking – I could make that at home. All prices noted include a 10% weekend surcharge.

Eat Ozzo
Harbourside, The Star L G, 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont NSW 2009